Potential Is Everywhere. opportunity is not.

Potential Is Everywhere. opportunity is not.

about us

Our History

In 2015 Marcelo Claure, Sprint’s CEO and the founder of the 1Million Project, read an article about America’s Homework Gap.

Highlighting the fact that five million households with school-aged children in the U.S. are unable to do their homework properly because they do not have Internet access at home, the article included stories of children going to school two hours early to use their school’s network or sitting outside of fast-food restaurants late into the night, just to use access WiFi. Reflecting on how Internet access had shaped his life and inspired by the work Sprint had done with MBKA on ConnectEd, Claure believed more could and should be done. As a first step, he gathered a team to meet with education experts to more fully understand students’ needs. Armed with these additional insights, he then developed a solution that Sprint was uniquely positioned to lead and help deliver. In October 2016 and with the specific purpose of addressing America’s Homework Gap, Claure announced the creation of 1Million Project at a town hall event with President Obama. In less than one year the 1Million Project has evolved from concept to a national program that’s specifically designed to help 1 million high school students who do not have reliable Internet access at home reach their full potential, by giving them devices and free high-speed Internet access.​

Our founder

Marcelo Claure, founder of the 1Million Project, is President and CEO of Sprint Corporation and a member of the board of directors of SoftBank Group Corp. He joined the company in August 2014 and is leading one of the most significant transformations in U.S. corporate history.

Marcelo embodies the successful pursuit of the American Dream. He immigrated to the United States from Bolivia and later became a U.S. citizen. In 1994, he started his first business, a small retailer of wireless phones. In 1997, he founded Brightstar as a small, Miami-based wireless distributor that he transformed into the world’s largest global wireless distribution and services company with revenues exceeding $10 billion and a presence in more than 50 countries.

Marcelo is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and a member of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame. In 2016, the Carnegie Corporation of New York selected him as part of its “Great Immigrants: The Pride of America” initiative.

Education has always been an important cause for Marcelo. More than a decade ago, he and Nicholas Negroponte co-founded One Laptop Per Child, an organization dedicated to providing low-cost laptops to children in impoverished communities. At Sprint, Marcelo created the 1Million Project to help bridge the digital divide and close the homework gap for 1 million U.S. high school students. He believes that every hardworking student deserves access to the devices and internet connectivity they need to pursue their dreams.

Marcelo is also Chairman of CTIA – The Wireless Association and Treasurer of My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, a nonprofit working to eliminate opportunity gaps for young men of color.

Marcelo earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance in 1993 and an honorary Doctorate of Commercial Science from Bentley University in Massachusetts. He is a member of the 2016 Class of Henry Crown Fellows and the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute. Marcelo is married and has five children.

Marcelo Claure, Chief Executive Officer, Sprint

Marcelo Claure, founder of the 1Million Project, is President and CEO of Sprint Corporation and a member of the board of directors of SoftBank Group Corp. He joined the company in August 2014 and is leading one of the most significant transformations in U.S. corporate history.

Marcelo embodies the successful pursuit of the American Dream. He immigrated to the United States from Bolivia and later became a U.S. citizen. In 1994, he started his first business, a small retailer of wireless phones. In 1997, he founded Brightstar as a small, Miami-based wireless distributor that he transformed into the world’s largest global wireless distribution and services company with revenues exceeding $10 billion and a presence in more than 50 countries.

Marcelo is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and a member of Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame. In 2016, the Carnegie Corporation of New York selected him as part of its “Great Immigrants: The Pride of America” initiative.

Education has always been an important cause for Marcelo. More than a decade ago, he and Nicholas Negroponte co-founded One Laptop Per Child, an organization dedicated to providing low-cost laptops to children in impoverished communities. At Sprint, Marcelo created the 1Million Project to help bridge the digital divide and close the homework gap for 1 million U.S. high school students. He believes that every hardworking student deserves access to the devices and internet connectivity they need to pursue their dreams.

Marcelo is also Chairman of CTIA – The Wireless Association and Treasurer of My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, a nonprofit working to eliminate opportunity gaps for young men of color.

Marcelo earned a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Finance in 1993 and an honorary Doctorate of Commercial Science from Bentley University in Massachusetts. He is a member of the 2016 Class of Henry Crown Fellows and the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute. Marcelo is married and has five children.

Our Team

Each member of our team is personally and professionally committed to helping students across America achieve their full potential.

We’re honored to do this work, and we consider it a privilege to be in service to others. Most of us are parents, and several of us would have been eligible to receive devices from our respective high schools (had the Internet existed when we were in high school!) Although many of our team members are in Kansas City, approximately half of us live in other parts of the United States.